Chapter One Are Your Hormones Ruining Your Life? Recognizing Hormonal Vulnerability
You probably picked up this book because you have noticed that your body is changing, and you suspect hormones are to blame. Your skin may have started to break out again, or your menstrual cycle may have lost whatever predictability it once had. Perhaps you put on twenty pounds in less than a year -- or had to resort to extreme dieting just to maintain weight. Or you may be one of the 30 percent of women whose sex drive goes into hibernation. Showering may have become a terrifying ordeal because clumps of hair clog the drain. Or your mood may have a life of its own, which clashes with your own life.
Perhaps you recognize yourself in what some of my patients have said about how they feel when their hormones start to assert themselves:
"Something has happened; I'm not the same me."
"I don't feel like I'm living in my body any
Chapter One Are Your Hormones Ruining Your Life? Recognizing Hormonal Vulnerability
You probably picked up this book because you have noticed that your body is changing, and you suspect hormones are to blame. Your skin may have started to break out again, or your menstrual cycle may have lost whatever predictability it once had. Perhaps you put on twenty pounds in less than a year -- or had to resort to extreme dieting just to maintain weight. Or you may be one of the 30 percent of women whose sex drive goes into hibernation. Showering may have become a terrifying ordeal because clumps of hair clog the drain. Or your mood may have a life of its own, which clashes with your own life.
Perhaps you recognize yourself in what some of my patients have said about how they feel when their hormones start to assert themselves:
"Something has happened; I'm not the same me."
"I don't feel like I'm living in my body anymore."
"I cry every time I wash my hair because so much falls out."
"I'm never sure when to schedule an important event because I never know if I'll be in control of my emotions when that day comes."
"Sex used to be very important to me but now I couldn't care less. Except for my husband, I wouldn't mind if I never had it again."
"Lately my joints ache, and it even hurts to comb my hair. My doctor told me I'm just getting older. But I don't think forty-eight is old, and I felt perfectly fine until a few months ago."
"I spend twenty minutes every morning plucking hairs from my face."
"I'm tired of all the jokes about hormones. They are not so funny when you are struggling with them every day."
"Please help me. I don't want to live the rest of my life feeling like this. You are my last hope."
Each of these women had a different problem, but there was a common factor: hormonal vulnerability.
Each was in good health and, according to conventional medicine, had no disease. Yet they did not feel well and were not able to enjoy their lives. Most dispiriting of all, each had sought desperately, but unsuccessfully, to find an explanation for what was happening and a way back to being normal. Some were told dismissively by their doctors, "There's nothing wrong with you." Or they went through an elaborate workup, only to be told, "All your tests are normal; there's nothing that can be done." Some were put on medications that did not help. The treatments did not work because the cause -- hormonal vulnerability -- was not understood. Several sought relief from herbs and supplements without success, not because herbal medicine does not work -- it often does -- but because they did not have reliable information about what herbs to use and how to use them.
The result of this massive disregard of hormone problems by the medical establishment is the nearly terminal discouragement of many affected women. Yet there is no reason for the widespread pessimism about women's hormones. Medicine has learned a lot about how these body chemicals affect health and well-being. A few doctors now recognize that some women are particularly sensitive to their own hormones, even when levels are supposedly normal. This condition I term hormonal vulnerability. Sadly, most in the medical establishment are still unaware of this condition, even though there are new and excellent treatmentsforitsvariousforms.Informationisscatteredinbits throughout thousands of medical journal articles and too often presented in technical language of extreme obscurity.
Showing how biochemical research about hormones can be used to bring joy back into the lives of hormonally vulnerable women is the task I've set for myself in writing this book. Here you will find complete, up-to-the-minute findings on all the major hormonal conditions. However, this book goes beyond the abstractions of scientific research. Because hormones are not only chemicals but also feelings and experiences, I will emphasize how they affect women's lives. I've learned a lot about this, not only from my formal medical education but also from listening carefully to the stories of the nearly ten thousand women who have consulted me about these conditions. I will also speak frankly about the problems women have getting help. Part of the burden of hormone problems is massive denial by a medical establishment that is quite often unsympathetic. If you have been thwarted in your efforts to get help, you will learn that you are not alone. To empower you to get the help you need, I will give you practical tips on how to navigate the labyrinthine health care system.
My experience in caring for hormonal problems for more than twenty-five years has shown me that there is almost always a solution. The most important thing is not to give up hope. No matter how discouraged you may be, no matter how many health care professionals you have seen, how many medications or herbs you have taken, or how many times you almost gave up, you can feel yourself again. This book will show you how.
Continues...
Excerpted from The Hormonally Vulnerable Woman by Geoffrey Redmond Copyright © 2005 by Geoffrey Redmond. Excerpted by permission.
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